A review by rinku
Die Verzauberung der Schatten by V.E. Schwab

adventurous mysterious slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I don’t have too much to say about A Gathering of Shadows. With a random magical tournament in its focus, this book felt more like a filler than anything else. Nevertheless, I enjoyed the writing and the world enough to still give three stars.  

Like I’ve said, the things happening in this book are not really relevant for the overarching plot. Some time has passed, and Lila is now on the sea with some pirates while Kell is just … I genuinely can’t remember, he’s probably angsty about the things that have happened lmao. Rhy and the monarch’s family are planning a magical tournament which is the only big thing happening, but this tournament only starts after the half of the novel which makes the first half kinda unnecessary. 

Another problem I had with the plot was that the two things that made the first novel interesting were mostly absent here, namely travelling to the different Londons and Kell’s and Lila’s dynamic because they are apart for like 80% of the novel. Of course, both take part in the tournament, but their reasons were so weird and stupid that it seemed not believable to me that they would participate there in the first place. Furthermore, the tournament is very predictable; I knew from the beginning that the tournament was just there to get a scene where
Kell and Lila fight against each other, and Alucard winning wasn’t a surprise neither
. There were some moments I liked though, like the discussion of death around King George. 

One big problem I have with the series until now is that there’s no character that I really like. All of them are supposed to be ruthless but they only seem too edgy and hence a little cringe to me. This goes especially goes for Lila that kills so many people without any regret which makes her kinda unsympathetic in my eyes. Also, she literally says at one point that she’s not like other girls, and she sometimes gives me some Mary Sue vibes, especially when it comes to the magic. I feel indifferent towards Rhy and Kell but what made them a bit unlikable in my eyes was how they used their guards. The only character I liked was Alucard and
I love the relationship between him and< Rhy
. 

With A Gathering of Shadows, I still don’t see why this book series is hyped the way it is. I just don’t care for the characters, and I have the feeling that the concept of the different worlds is barely utilized which is unfortunate. 
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